Izuku and Ochaco vs the World
by Chayo the Confused
Summary: In a weird way...Katsuki was right. Throwing himself off the roof in order to get a quirk was the best thing that Izuku could have done. Now he had a new quirk, a new job, and a new partner. If he had known this would have happened, he would have thrown himself off a roof ages ago! Dying Will Flames Izuku
1. Chapter 1

"So, to be perfectly frank...no I don't think you can become a hero without a quirk.".

Those words kept repeating in Izuku's mind on a dark feedback loop from hell. His idol...former idol All-Might took no notice of Izuku's darkening mood as he slowly walked towards the stairwell of the building they were standing on.

"I can understand having dreams young man, but you have to be realistic as well. May I suggest joining the police force? They get a lot of grief for having heroes do most of the work for them, but it's a respectable profession."

And with his piece said, All Might exited the stairwell, leaving Izuku to his darkening thoughts.

Izuku couldn't help it, he let out a chocked laugh, which turned into a sob after only a moment. Tears had always come easily to Izuku, but these years felt different, more final. All Might was his last shot and even He thought you needed a quirk to be a hero...which Izuku did not have.

What was he to do now?

Unbidden, another thought rapidly entered Izuku's depressed thoughts.

'Why don't you just take a swan dive off the roof and hope that you're born with a quirk in the next life huh?'

It was 'advice' from his best friend in the world; Bakugou Katsuki. And at the time Izuku had just shrugged it off as Katsuki being well... Katsuki. He never said anything that he meant, which made dealing with him difficult. But what if he was on to something?

What if...that was literally his only option? He had tried so hard to keep his spirits up and to be strong for his mom and for himself but…

He was tired.

No, more than that. He was done. It was time to see if Katsuki's words had any modicum of truth to it.

An explosion off in the distance rang out solidly, but Izuku took no notice of it, slowly shuffling his way to the edge of the building, staring down at the edge of it dispassionately.

Did he really want to do this?

'No you can't be a hero.'

'I'm sorry Izuku! I wish things were different!'

'Why don't you just take a swan dive off the roof!'

All these thoughts and more ran through Izuku's mind and steeled his resolve. He was doing it. He lifted one foot off the edge of the building and watched it dangle over the ledge. It looked...further and more real than it did merely seconds ago.

Izuku paused for only a moment, to send a small apology to his mom before his other foot followed and Izuku plummeted to the ground. He didn't even have time to scream before he hit the ground and knew no more.

* * *

Izuku knew no more is what he wanted to say...but he actually woke up fairly quickly. Without feeling a single bit of pain, which was odd. He quickly examined his body and found it none the worse for wear, which again was strange because he had literally just jumped off a building.

He looked down, on the ground that he had initially assumed that he had been standing on, and received the largest shock that he had ever gotten in his life to date.

There, underneath Izuku, was...Izuku. Only this one actually looked like he had fallen off a building, with the scrapes and bruises to match. With some possible broken bones to go along with the visible injuries that Izuku could see. He tentatively reached a hand out...whether it was to touch the not Izuku, or to reassure himself that this was a dream, which is what he was thinking now. But his hand merely passed through Not Izuku.

Almost like...he was...he was…

A ghost?

"Hey, you figured it out! And a lot quicker than a lot of people do! You're pretty smart ya know?"

A bright bubbly voice interrupted Izuku's slowly growing panic attack. Izuku looked up to see a girl floating slightly above the height that he himself was floating at. She was fair skinned girl around his age that had a small permanent blush on her cheeks. Her eyes were large and round, and a pretty brown color with thick eyelashes. She had bobbed brown hair with two large bangs framing the sides of her face.

She was beautiful.

"I know this is a dumb question...but I have to ask; Are you okay?"

Oh man, even her voice was beautiful….wait focus Izuku!

"You...can see me? Both mes?" Izuku asked instead, gesturing at himself and the Not himself that was even now being loaded onto an ambulance by concerned citizens.

"Yeah! It's kind of my job!" The girl said, as excited as ever. "You're my first client so I'm pretty excited about it! My name is Ochaco Uraraka!"

"Job? Client…? And uh...my name is Izuku Midoriya. Would you mind expanding on that first thing you said? Am I dead? What's going on here?"

"Oh right! Of course of course!" She nodded, smile growing even larger. "Let's go somewhere a bit...quieter. Things like this...she gestured to the ambulance and the...Izuku's body and he could see what she meant.

She offered her hand for Izuku to grab, and when he did she lifted them up higher and higher into the sky until they were nestled in the clouds. Izuku wanted to ask what was going on or even to question how all of this was going on, but he figured it was better to wait for this girl...Uraraka to speak before he started asking questions.

"Well," Ochako said, clapping her hands before starting. "Like I said, this is my first time doing this on my own, so bear with me! My name is Ochaco Uraraka, and I'm your grim reaper. Unfortunately, you came down with a bad case of death, so I'm here to help get you settled!"

He died! He actually died! Wait that was what he had intended to do so why was he freaking out? He had expected that...well he didn't know what he had expected, but it wasn't this.

"But...there was a complication."

"A complication? How? Death should be...fairly straightforward right?" Izuku couldn't help but ask.

"Ordinarily yes! But...you weren't actually supposed to die here. Our records didn't have you walking off any buildings or anything like that...at all! And as a result...we don't actually have a place for you yet! But that's a good thing!"

"That's a lot to unpack...but why exactly is that good thing Ochaco?" Izuku asked. He was starting to regret his deciscion to end his life, but he couldn't for the life...death of him figure out how any of this was a good thing.

"Well, since we didn't have you dying at this age, we don't have a place for you. And since we don't have a place for you in the Spirit world...that means that you can go back."

"Wait. Wait. Wait. I can go back? That implies that there is in fact life after life which means death is meaningless, so if I die without a quirk I would just be a ghost without a quirk, but if ghosts can't touch each other and we all can fly then that renders quirks useless so is it just living a normal life only with the ability to float and and and…"

Izuku trailed off as he noticed Ochaco staring at him blankly. "I'm not going to lie, I don't know how to respond to that." She quickly brightened up though. "I had...a similar experience to yours so I have an idea of what you're going through. But...I took the chance offered to me...and I haven't regretted it since. And I know I just met you...but I don't think you will regret it either."

She paused here, before frantically waving her arms back and forth. "And I'm not just saying that because you're my client and I have to help you! I really think you don't want to be dead!"

Izuku hummed thoughtfully as he considered what he was being told. Now having seen the afterlife and knowing that it wasn't just starting over, but rather...something else entirely had...to be honest frightened him. And knowing that whenever his mom eventually passed he would have to explain himself to….

Oh crap his mom. How could he do this to her? He was so wrapped up in his misery and what All-Might had told him that he had forgotten all about her! How could he have been so selfish!

"You're right. I shouldn't have done this. I've hurt my mom...something that I've never wanted to do. What do I have to do to fix this?"

* * *

Izuku did not think that the afterlife would be so...plain. I mean it was a three story japanese style mansion with a large spelled incorrectly welcome sign. Ochaco led him along, bypassing the line of...spirits? Balls of fluff? Clouds? Whatever they were, they were numerous and never ending.

"So, all of these clouds are spirits?" He asked Ochaco for clarification. She was fiddling with this golf cart type thing that ran on...Izuku didn't know and Ochaco wouldn't tell him. He didn't even know that the spirit world HAD golf carts. He was learning a lot today.

"Yeah! Aren't they cute?" Ochaco responded, finally finishing fiddling with the cart and turning it on. It sputtered to life with some concerning noises but then it began to purr like...normal car. Or how Izuku assumed a car would run. Within moments they were off, driving down to the mansion.

"How come they don't have bodies and I do?" Izuku asked her as they drove along. It was...unsettling the more Izuku thought about it. All of these people...were dead. Just like him...

"Oh that's easy. Like I said earlier, you didn't die on schedule like all of these people did. So as result, King Yemma has an offer for you that most people don't get. They didn't keep their bodies when they passed on so they come here as spirits. You took your body with you, so you don't!"

"Wait. This is my actual body? Well, why isn't it injured?!" Izuku asked, frantically checking his body for any lingering injuries that might exist from the fall that he had taken.

"Well, why would it be? This is the spirit world, all the damage that you had sustained in the physical world has been fixed. I wouldn't recommend damaging it any further though! From this point on, you'll have to heal the old fashion way!" Ochaco cheerfully warned him.

"Don't hurt myself…got it." He gulped despite himself. How hard would it be to honor that promise to himself? He stopped worrying as another thought occurred to him. "Wait, if my body is here…then what's in the ambulance?"

Ochaco waved her free hand nonchalantly as she drove with her other one. "Oh that's a body double designed to keep your family nice and calm while you're out doing stuff! Or ya know…being dead. I use one all the time with my parents!"

That was an interesting bit of information. "What do you mean? Are you, the grim reaper…not dead?" And aside from the fact that Ochaco looked and acted nothing like what Izuku thought and assumed the Grim Reaper looked like, she was alive/dead too? Like he was? Or would be?

This was all confusing.

"Yeah, my parents run a construction company and times are hard you see? So when my quirk came in I thought that we had gotten really lucky and that with my quirk, all of their money troubles would be over!" She started, having stopped the cart to look Izuku directly in his eyes as she talked.

They were very very brown.

"So, in my infinite wisdom I decided that I was going to train my quirk, and when I was old enough, I would swoop in and fix everything! Saving my parents a lot of effort and time and ya know, being their hero! I was twelve when I made my first, and last attempt at the construction site." Here she paused to grimace and chuckle ruefully. "It didn't really go so well. I actually died, in fact."

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" Izuku said, bowing to her, and muttering apologies as fast as he could. This wasn't a nice subject and he didn't want to open any old wounds if he could help it. Curse his curiousity!

She shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I actually wasn't supposed to die at that particular time, so I had the option to come back. Just like you! I was actually supposed to be doing something in the real world for the spirit world, but King Enma didn't like the thought of me doing all the stuff they would have me doing by myself! So instead, I would be a sort of…welcome committee for any of the recently deceased. Until someone like me came along!"

"And that someone...is me?" Izuku couldn't help but ask, pointing to himself.

"Yep! So what do you say? Do you want to be partners! Me and You! Izuku and Ochaco vs the world!"

Izuku couldn't help but grin at that. He liked the sound of that. He really liked the sound of that. But there was something he had to let her know. It would be wrong not to.

"That sounds really amazing and I would love to partner up with you with…whatever we would end up doing, but I should let you know. I'm quirkless." He closed his eyes and looked down on the final words, he didn't want to see her face when she realized that he was in fact, useless.

"Yeah…so?"

"So?!" Izuku cried, looking up into her face again. There was no scorn or anger, or disgust, or any negative emotion…

Just…Ochaco.

"Izuku, you know I read your file right? I know you're quirkless...or that you were quirkless."

And if that didn't catch Izuku's attention like nothing else she had said today had.

"What do you mean 'I WAS quirkless?" Izuku asked, before he could unpack the sheer magnitude of having someone, anyone believe in him.

"Well…how should I put this…?" Ochaco trailed off, putting a finger under her chin in thought. "When you die, and you come back, you don't come back the same. I mean, you're still you and everything! But your body produces…I guess you could call it spirit energy? And it synergizes with your quirk and body and sort of upgrades it! Before I had died I could only manipulate the gravity of the things I could touch with the pads on my fingers!" She explained, showing the pink pads on each finger for emphasis.

"Now? I can manipulate the gravity around me to any extent that I want! Of course I still have the same limitations of what I can lift, but my range has greatly extended! I just need to practice and train more! And I'm sure that there's more that I can do that I haven't touched on! You can do a lot with gravity!"

Izuku blinked at her, processing everything that she had just told him. So when he came back, he might have a quirk? Something to call his own, something that would ensure that he could in fact be a hero and save people? This was the chance he was waiting. He had to take it. Even if he didn't end up with a quirk, he could boost his body with the spirit energy and call that a quirk.

Theoretically.

"Well in that case…I accept your offer to come back to life, and your partnership Ochacho." Izuku said with a watery smile, offering her his hand. She grasped it firmly, giving him a confident grin.

"Yeah, that's the spirit! You won't regret this I promise!" She quickly let go of his hand and went back to fiddling with the cart they were on. "Now that you're on board we really have to hurry and get this show on the road! You want to get into UA right? That leaves us…ten months to whip you into shape!"

She gunned the cart, making Izuku clutch his seat as the cart sped forward with all the speed she could force out of it.

"C'mon! I'll take you to meet my boss! You'll love him!"

* * *

King Enma was big. And red. And big. Did Izuku mention he was big? Was that because of a gigantifcation quirk? No that wasn't possible because, why would he have it active at all times? It had to be a mutant type quirk since it seemed kind of odd to have everything giant sized to accommodate him...

"This is not a quirk Mr. Midoriya. I'm just large." King Enma's voice boomed, making Izuku squeak in embarrassment. Oh no, did he say that out loud?

"You did." Ochaco answered, patting his back sympathetically. "It's cool though. Hi King Enma!"

"Hello, Ms. Uraraka. It looks like you've finally managed to nab yourself a partner. May I offer a congratulations?"

She nodded. "You may. We would like to try the snake way challenge sir!"

King Enma blinked, ruffled some of his papers before looking back at them, eyeing Izuku in particular. "Snake Way? Are you...certain about that?"

"Yes sir! We need to get stronger in a hurry, and I feel like Snake Way is the best method to go about it!" King Enma sighed, before pulling out a separate form and started to fill it out, no longer looking at either Izuku or Ochaco.

"His pen is bigger than both of us..." Izuku mumbled to himself, but neither Yemma or Ochaco paid him any mind.

"Ms. Uraraka...do you even know what's at the end of snake way?"

"No sir! But I know that we need to get stronger in a hurry for whatever assignments you're going to give us, and I feel like Snake Way is the best way for us to accomplish that!"

"His desk is bigger than the entirety of downtown..." Izuku muttered, but neither one paid him any attention.

"Well...if you're certain that this is the route that you want to go..." As he said that he stamped what Izuku assumed was his seal of approval for the paper, it started to spin and glow. The sheet of paper started glowing brighter and brighter and Izuku was forced to shield his eyes. And when he finally was able to open them, the building they were in was gone.

In fact, everything was gone. All Izuku could see was an endless vast of yellow clouds, and...that was it. Oh wait, now that Izuku was looking closer and scanning the surroundings, he could see a long, winding pathway that led all the way to...a giant snake head?

Something about this was making Izuku feel...very uncomfortable. But he couldn't quite put a finger on what.

"This! Is Snake Way! It's a long, winding path that's directly above Hell! It's the only method of getting to..." She trailed off uncertainly.

"Getting to...?

"I'm not actually sure, but I'm sure whatever it is will be worth it! And there are benefits to traveling it too!"

"Are they?" Izuku couldn't help asking.

"Yeah! A step over the Snake Head brings you immediately into ten times normal gravity! The air gets denser, the temperature fluctuates, the further along the path you go. There's a some time dilation going on here...which will help because this path is either...four hundred and fifty thousand miles or ten thousand miles long and I'm not sure how long it will take us to traverse it!"

"Well, if everything that you say is true, then at the very least it should condition our bodies to the extreme, especially if the temperatures fluctuate as drastically as Ochaco described. And that time dilation is extremely interesting..."

"You really need to work on that Izuku..." Ochaco said, hopping up on the top of the snake head that was the entrance of Snake Way. She grunted, before scrunching her face and taking a slow tentative step. "This...will be harder than I thought."

That didn't bode well for Izuku. But nevertheless, he climbed up the snake head next to Ochaco.

And immediately crumbled into a heap.

Ochaco burst out laughing and scrunched her face again, and suddenly Izuku felt lighter. "I'm using my quirk to lighten gravity around for us a bit. That should help us out a lot until we can handle the gravity here better."

Izuku picked himself off the ground, and took a cautious step forward. The gravity was certainly heavier and Izuku struggled with more than he would like, but he was still moving!

"Izuku and Ochaco, off to a great start!" He said, beaming at Ochaco.

"The best!" She responded, giving him an equally bright smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Every morning, as Izuku had promised himself when they started the Serpent's path, he'd made the decision to live. It was getting easier, even if the walking was difficult and dangerous and he never got any better at it. He had Ochaco and he found joy in walking the path. In some morbid, dark way.

Walking was good in itself, the further he walked, the more irrelevant Bakugo and the world had seemed. It was just Izuku here. Izuku and Ochaco. The path gave him no small measure of joy. Everyday brought new adventures. The path was possibilities, the kind he thought his life would never hold again, and Izuku himself was in motion. Any direction you walked was forward, and that was easy. Walking was easy.

Walk on became his motto; he repeated it to himself every morning upon getting up and deciding to exist for one more day.

"So, Ochaco, tell me more about the Serpent path. You said you don't know what's on the end of it?" He had said one day as they decided to again start their journey along the path.

"Well...no I don't! But I've heard that the Serpent path is a path of the spirit! And enlightenment! So, since you're a spirit, and you've sort of lost your way…" She trailed off ominously.

"Is this how you regained your life back?" He couldn't help but ask. Maybe whatever was at the end wiped your memory and that's why she didn't remember? A theory that was immediately dashed by her response.

"Nah," She waved it off. "I did something different. Quicker too."

"And, I couldn't do that because...?" He trailed off meaningfully. He would have much preferred something not as...intense, even if he was coming to like walking the path. Getting back faster would be nice.

"What worked for me, wouldn't really work for you Izuku, ya know?" She stated, hands behind her head in a carefree walk as they strolled along.

At that, Izuku stopped. "Why wouldn't it? Doesn't the end become me just coming back to life and...being your partner? Wouldn't faster be better?"

"Mm...say, before I answer that, let me ask you a question Izuku...who's your favorite hero? They have an origin story, and all that?"

Izuku immediately brightened, recalling the video that he had to have seen at least a thousand times. It was an old video, of an apartment buildings that were in the process of being destroyed, by what seemed to be a fire of some unknown origins. Or at least Izuku assumed so by all the smoke rising from the buildings. Only instead of cries of fear of pain, there was only laughter. There was a man, a giant of man who was single handedly saving everyone. In record speed.

It was All-Might's debut. And when Izuku had watched it, he had felt like he could do anything. The debut was an old favorite, but at the same time something had changed. Some part of the debut galled him. He felt like he was seeing it with two different eyes; an eye full of stars that still saw the hero and everything that could've been, and a new eye, one that he'd acquired while walking, an eye full of…

It was full of fire, he decided. Just like his dad. Like Kaachan. His second eye saw the flesh of the story burned away, held up the bones up to his own story, and saw the truth.

Bakugo...All Might were both right. He couldn't do this. Not without a quirk of some kind.

"I get it." Izuku said, morose and having regretted asking. Thinking about All-Might and Bakugo brought up some weird, angry feelings that Izuku didn't want to deal with. But now that the floodgates were open, Izuku couldn't help but deal with the questions that he had been ignoring for all of his life.

Something was wrong with him. Something terrible was in him, and THAT was why he had no quirk. That was why he couldn't do what Ochaco did, and had to do this. That feeling never really went away, but he could quiet it by walking, by studying, by following the REAL heroes. Walking only suppressed his inherent awfulness. It wasn't a cure. Maybe there wasn't a cure. Maybe there was nothing at the end of the Serpent path and this was all a game. He'd been born bad, he'd died bad and he was dragging his bad body through hell to no avail.

He sat down, hurting all over, feeling like he'd slid all the way back to the start when he'd walked off the building in the first place. It was going to be hard to make himself walk tomorrow.

Ochaco was at his side, padded fingers soft against his cheeks. "Is it that person?" She asked softly.

"What person?" Izuku asked. He gently moved her hands away, even if her touch was a comfort. Izuku was a terrible person and didn't deserve comfort.

"The one you loved, who abandoned you. All-Might, 'Kaachan, take your pick. Are they the source of your feelings?"

Izuku was sure he'd never said a word about Bakugo, or All-Might. Or at least, nothing that implied that he'd been abandoned. And when he thought about Kaachan, abandoned wasn't the word he used. Kaachan was always there, he hadn't abandoned Izuku.

"You're making assumptions."

"Deductions." Ochaco corrected him. "And of course I am. It's my duty as your friend."

Friend.

Izuku hadn't had one of those in a long time. Sure he'd heard Ochaco say that many times, but it hadn't really registered...he hadn't really believed her on some level.

Until now.

"Why?"

"Hmm? I don't understand the question." Ochaco responded, smiling at him softly.

"Why can't we...why…" Izuku couldn't even finish the question, so he asked another. "What if someone has wronged you terribly...and you can't do anything about it? What if…" He swallowed.

"What do you do Ochaco," Izuku whispered, "If the person you most desperately want to hurt is yourself?"

"Then you hurt yourself." Ochaco said simply. "With your mind."

"Beat myself up you mean?" Izuku said bitterly. "Recite my long litany of regrets? I do that all the time."

It made him wish he were dead. Well...deader. He wrapped his arms around his head.

"No, no that." She said. Her breath burned against his neck. When had she gotten so close? "I mean you focus inward. Clamp down. Hold on with everything that you have."

A fire crackled.

"And then let go," Said the fierce, hot wind in his ear.

Izuku said nothing. Ochaco crept back to the other side of the walkway. He waited until he heard him snoring, and then he let the tears flow.

Kaachan's criticism was too painful to hold on to and too primal and embedded to let go of. It was the rock Izuku had been pushing uphill his whole life and he had an inkling that this could not be resolved in one night. Not even close.

His very reluctance suggested that this was important. He should hold on to the memories that he didn't want to remember.

And then, maybe, she could finally let them go.

He conjured up Kaa, no Bakugo to mind, on purpose, for the first time since he had arrived here.

On the other side of Izuku, Ochaco smiled.

XxX

"Tell me something, Izuku" Ochaco started as they walked along the path, calling over her shoulder to Izuku who was lagging behind. "Why did you let Bakugo treat you like that? He's not your father, or your brother, but you risked your safety and well being catering to him? What drove you to do so? Pity? Fear? Guilt?"

Izuku considered, averting his eyes from the girl as he thought up an answer. "He's my friend," he offered eventually.

"Love then?" She said, turning around to face him. "Love is a worthy motivation, although you see how quickly it can sour into guilt right?"

Izuku's mom involuntarily, painfully leaped into Izuku's mind. Bakugo wasn't far behind. "Are they really separate things?" He asked, looking up. "I can't seem to separate them."

"You've been thinking about it," She responded, sounded pleased. "Here's what I think: love and guilt are like ham and eggs. So many people enjoy them together, but there's no rule saying you must have one with the other! They don't even come from the same animal."

She paused. "Here's an analogy that my mom used to say; guilt is a runaway wagon down the mountain. It can carry you a distance, but it usually ends terribly. Love on the other hand, is much slower, just your own two feet, really," She said, giving Izuku a meaningful look. "But it's more likely to take you somewhere worth going."

Izuku had never met anyone like this, who talked all abstract and wasn't quite sure how to respond to her when she got like this. "I do like walking." He said at last.

She eyed him, and then winked, "You've got the figure for it!"

Izuku blushed, but pushed forward. "Walking the road gives you time to think too,"

"We'll get you out of your shell just yet!" She said warmly. "Tell me what you think!"

"Walk on." Izuku said, feeling surprisingly shy as he said, like he was showing Ochaco something really important to him.

Ochaco was silent for a moment, before blinking at him.

"What? That's it?"

"It's harder than it sounds," Izuku defended, folding his arms. "Whenever I start feeling like I want to...like I'm not going to make it, I decide to walk on until tomorrow at least, and-"

"And then you do it, huh?" She responded. "Sounds a little like running away."

"No!" Izuku yelled, immediately. "It's the opposite of that."

"Running towards?" She said, stopping to face Izuku fully, completely focused. "I'm not saying don't run-or walk-only that it sounds incomplete. I only meant to prompt you to think further, ya know? What happens when you get there?"

"Um...you don't really get there," Izuku said, growing annoyed despite himself. "You're on the Path and the Path goes on and on. Izuku felt himself speak about the Path as if it were a person; he hadn't realized he felt this way until he had said it.

"Now' we're getting somewhere! We're all on this path, metaphorically, and literally in our case. That's our lot. Is that what you're getting at? And we have to choose to walk on, rather than petulantly sitting on one's butt and pouting?"

Why did it sound stupid coming from her mouth, when it had sounded so nice when he was walking? "I guess…" He trailed off, unsure what to say.

"It's a start," She said. "Tell me something though: Is walking the only virtue in your system? What if someone decided to stay in one place and not walk on? On purpose? Would that be bad?"

Izuku considered. "We've been walking, literally walking for about...two months? I think? And I feel...right when I do. My mind is clear; the world makes sense. Walking is good in itself."

"Yeah, yeah," Ochaco said, waving him off, "But it's not the only good. Since we're being literal now, have you felt clear and sensible at other times in your life?"

The question startled Izuku into thinking. And a long forgotten memory came back to the front. "When I was younger, and quirks first started manifesting, there was this child that Bakugo was bullying...and he needed help and then...I was there. Sure, it hurt, but...I felt good. And studying heros...and helping my mom. And there's-"

"Right." Ochaco said firmly. "Walking, defending, studying, and helping,"

Izuku blinked, unsure of what she was getting at.

"You feel whole when you're doing things, Izuku. When you're in your body," She said slowly, as if Izuku was stupid. "The mind may go off in all directions, but the truth is centered in the body ultimately."

"My body? So...I'm just a worthless punching bag, like Bakugo said," Izuku interrupted.

"That is NOT what I mean. And you know that. I would guess, based on your knee jerk reaction, that you despise your lack of power, and everything that's happened due to it? So let me ask you this; Do you think that one needs a quirk to be a hero?"

Izuku went cold. She was asking him the same exact thing that he had asked All-Might...and his mother. But he had already known the answer. "Yes." Izuku said, heart pounding.

"Wrong." snapped Ochaco, her suddenly sharp brown eyes taking in every nuance of Izuku's reaction. "First, I gave you two choices as a test: There are never just two choices. That's a lie to keep you from thinking too deeply. Second and more importantly; you do not need a quirk to be hero."

"That isn't true," Izuku half whispered. Every one of her words was a knife, prodding a deep, unhealed wound.

"Third," She said, as is Izuku hadn't spoken. "Consider doctors, policemen, and teachers. And even parents. Sure quirks are beneficial, and helpful, but by no means are they necessary, and they too are considered heroes. It simply requires more work, and more effort on their part, but is by no means impossible.

Izuku trembled so hard his teeth chattered.

"You've been curling around your own pain for far too long Izuku. So long that you can't see beyond yourself. I rejoiced when you decided to strike out and walk this path with me, but you still have a long way to go. You want to walk on? Walk out of that shadow. Walk Izuku."

Izuku wrestled back tears.

"Show me the true heart of you. Your credo goes farther than you realize: Walk on, yes, but don't walk past people who need you. Uncurl yourself so you can see them and respond."

Izuku was too distraught to take everything in. The words bounced off of him like a stone skipping over the surface of a lake.

A stone may skip a long way, but it always sinks eventually.

"What...what are you?"

Ochaco smiled wanly. "What do you mean? I'm your partner. Nothing more, nothing less. But we can discuss that later. What do you intend to do next?"

Izuku glanced back. The section they had just crossed was pouring down rain, but the section in front then had the sun rising and looked overall pretty pleasant. "It almost feels like a sign from a higher power, finding you and talking about this stuff." He said. "I almost feel like I should stay."

"Almost isn't good enough," Ochaco warned. "Just like guilt isn't good enough."

She was right, and Izuku felt a weight come off of his heart. He threw his arms around Ochaco and held her for a moment. "Thank you for everything," He said. He laid his forehead on hers, and they stared at each other. It was becoming even noiser behind them, even the thunder and rain was subsiding.

"We could stay here and rest until the weather calms down on all fronts?" She asked, looking at him.

Izuku was in no mood for travel, or conversation, so he nodded and they packed up for the day.

XxX

Izuku's impatience to get going outstripped the speed of the weather and they set off four days later before everything really cleared up.

They had made it roughly two miles and that took so long because of the weather. Izuku was beginning to regret not waiting due to how slowly they had to creep.

"We're almost at the halfway point," Ochaco said suddenly as they came to an entrance. "I hope you're ready?"

Izuku gulped, but nodded. He wasn't sure what was going on, but not being ready wasn't quite an option that he had.

"This cavern portion of the path is called 'Big Spooky,". She said gesturing at the cave they were about to enter.

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at the name and Ochaco grinned at him. ". Shut up! I didn't name it!"

Big Spooky looked like a collapsed souffle, crumpled in on itself, sunken and shrunken down the middle. Vines snaked over walls, and saplings grew in the crevices of the ruined cavern. The cavern looked like it collapsed a long time ago.

The most accessible entrance, Ochaco insisted was to the South, a fifty foot pit lined with vegetation. It was a hard climb down for Izuku, even with the rocks and vines to hold on to, which made Izuku wonder about Ochaco. She must be so much tougher than he thought.

These were caves the likes of which Izuku nor Ochaco had ever encountered. They walked for hours. Ochaco chose large passageways, looking for something that she wouldn't elaborate on, no matter how many times Izuku asked. She's know it when she saw it, she insisted.

They found a vast lake, which horrified and fascinated Izuku, and discovered rooms full of crystalline wonders. Nothing suited Ochaco.

They reached a chamber like the nave of a cathedral, it's ceiling and walls far beyond their reach. An enormous flat Rock, like a dais, lay near the center; it had fallen from the unseen ceiling an age ago.

"Here,". Ochaco said approvingly. "Let's do this Izuku."

"What do I need to do?"

"I need you to lay on the dais there, and I'm going to Pierce your artery, and collect some blood from you, and me. Sprinkle it around you while you sleep there."

Caves, it turns out, are incredibly quiet when you're too stunned to speak.

"I... what?"

"We can use…". Ochaco glanced around the cavern in frustration, and noticed two odd whitish stones a ways off. They were identical, curved like bowls and roughly the size of two cupped hands. "These would hold a good amount of blood!". She decided.

"What-why are we doing this?". Izuku was proud of himself for not stammering or stuttering there. He really didn't want to be stabbed.

"It's part of the renewal process. It's basically setting up and preparing your body and spirit for your triumphant return! Hold still,". She warned as she lightly nicked his artery with a knife that he was sure she didn't have earlier.

With that done, she quickly collected the blood from him in one of the bowls and guided him to the dais, where he collapsed, suddenly exhausted.

"I'm going to wait until you're asleep, and then start."

She told him, knowing that that wouldn't take too long.

"Are you going to pour it on, or around me?". He asked faintly. It was almost time.

"I'm going to do both," she answered, as she sliced her hand and began to collect her own blood. "Do what seems right. Intention is more important than details here. Probably."

No response. He was asleep. Or dying. She had to be quick.

Ochaco sat a bowl of blood in each hand and waited. Before she's made up her mind to start, the blood began to glow. The bowls in her hand glowed a pale blue. All around the cavern other blue orbs shone, like a hundred moons reflected in a lake, breathtakingly beautiful.

Ochaco, focused on her task, circled Izuku's stone, sprinkling and dribbling blood on and around him. Every spatter made a constellation.

She flicked the last of the blood on Izuku's body and Izuku too, began to glow.

Ochaco sank to her knees just as the light went out. The pale blue light of a hundred shining lights suffused everything. It ebbed and flowed over Izuku.

Before her very eyes, the wound on his throat cleared up. She watched, mesmerized. Then the light began to fade, so slowly that Ochaco couldn't tell if the glow still lingered or if it was an afterimage on her eyes.

Finally, the darkness was total. Izuku had stopped glowing and the silence was total.

For a moment, Ochaco imagined that she didn't exist.

"Ochaco!" Izuku cried, from right beside her. "That was crazy! I feel-I feel…". He trailed off, unsure how to voice his thoughts.

His stream of enthusiasm was forestalled, momentarily by the sound of Izuku vomiting.

"My quirk used to make me vomit all the time. I don't miss that,". Ochaco said, rubbing his back soothingly. Her only response was more vomit.

She took her other hand and examined every place that had glowed with extra brilliance. It went perfectly. He was finally whole.

Now if only he would stop vomiting, this would have been a nice moment.


End file.
